1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a printer and printing system connectable to a variety of target devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, a printer was connected to a host device, such as a PC, and printing was performed based on the control information from the host device. As a result, when an operator wanted to use the printer, the operator needed to connect the PC and printer using a cable or the like, and suitably operate the PC keyboard, mouse, or other device to set up various print settings and provide print execution instructions. Such operations have been burdensome to the operator, especially those without a thorough understanding of office automation equipment, such as the elderly and children.
In prior art, there has been proposed a printer designed with the objective of resolving the above-described problem and achieving ease of use for all (refer to JP, A, 8-142440, for example). With this printer of prior art, the printer itself comprises a host function rather than the above-described PC, etc., making it possible to perform printing independently. Additionally, the printer made it possible to connect an image scanner or barcode reader as a target device (hereinafter suitably “target device”) of this host function, and perform print operations in accordance with the reading result of the image scanner or barcode reader.
On the other hand, as one printer, a label producing apparatus that produces print labels by printing desired characters on a label tape for label production (a roll sheet of undefined length) rolled into a roll shape while feeding the label tape from the roll is known. In prior art, there has been proposed a label producing system that connects a plurality of such label producing apparatuses on a network (refer to JP, A, 2007-317157).
In the prior art of the above-described JP, A, 8-142440, interfaces (image scanner interface and barcode reader interface) corresponding to target devices are prepared in advance within the printer for cases where the printer host function is utilized and a target device is connected to the printer. Since it is difficult to provide interfaces corresponding to all models of each target device, however, there are inevitably bootable models for which a corresponding interface has been provided, and unbootable models for which a corresponding interface has not been provided. Nevertheless, the operator is unable to distinguish between the bootable and unbootable target devices based on outward appearances. For this reason, the operator must suffer the extreme inconvenience of connecting each arbitrary target device to the printer using a USB cable or the like, and testing each device one by one to see if the device is bootable.
On the other hand, in the prior art described in JP, A, 2007-317157, a plurality of label producing apparatuses is connected to operation terminals via a network. Each label producing apparatus detects its type of label tape and outputs the detection result to an operation terminal. When the operator performs an operation to produce labels of a desired form on the operation terminal, the operation terminal determines which label producing apparatus is suitable based on the detection result of the label tape type of each of the above-described label producing apparatuses. Then, an instruction signal corresponding to the label production operation performed by the above-described operator is inputted via the network into the above-described label producing apparatus thus identified. The label producing apparatus then produces the labels in accordance with the above-described label production operation, based on the above-described inputted instruction signal.
Nevertheless, in the above-described prior art, in order to suitably use the plurality of label producing apparatuses to produce labels of a form intended by the operator, the plurality of label producing apparatuses and the operation terminal must be connected in advance to a network using a LAN cable or wireless LAN. However, to construct a fixed system with such extensive network connections is extremely cumbersome for the operator. Additionally, the network connections may result in recognition errors or communication errors as a result of the effects of the communication environment or the like, and prompt recovery from such errors is not easy for an operator having a normal skill level. As a result, from the viewpoint of making the plurality of label producing apparatuses easier to use, the above-described prior art shows room for improvement. Further, depending on the environment, network construction itself may be difficult and, in such a case, the above-described prior art does not particularly take that into consideration.
Thus, as described above, each of the aforementioned prior arts increases the labor burden of the operator, decreasing operator convenience.